Once Upon A Time only has five more weeks to tie up all the loose ends from the season.
Once Upon A Time does not tie up any loose ends in “Ruby Slippers.” Instead, it unties more ends and adds more problems to the plot.
In Oz some time ago, Mulan (Jamie Chung) and Red (Meghan Ory) are running through a forest when they hear a noise. It’s a dog and its owner — Toto and Dorothy (Teri Reeves), respectively. Toto runs off and they go searching for him, but they see a green tornado along with the Wicked Witch (Rebecca Mader) and they run away.
In Underbrooke, Hades (Greg Germann) warns Zelena that Red is in the Underworld. Evidently Zelena did something terrible to Red in Oz, so she wants to leave Underbrooke as soon as possible because she is afraid once Regina and Robin find out what she did, they won’t let her see her daughter. Hades offers to help Zelena but she doesn’t want it. Hades then leaves in a swirl of fire after saying that he’ll take care of the wolf.
Meanwhile, Belle (Emilie de Ravin) is still trying to find a way to protect her baby from Hades. For those who don’t remember, once Rumple (Robert Carlyle) and Belle’s baby is born, it will belong to Hades. Rumple offers to help Belle — but only if he can use dark magic to do so. Belle will not allow it and says she needs to do this on her own. Belle is noble not to use dark magic and to remain true to herself, but it is also stupid. If she can protect her baby by using dark magic, she should do it. The consequences can’t be that bad.
Red finally wakes up and tells Snow White (Ginnifer Goodwin), David (Josh Dallas), Emma (Jennifer Morrison), Regina (Lana Parrilla), Henry (Jared Gilmore) and Killian (Colin O’Donoghue) she used a tracking spell to find Zelena and it brought her to the Underworld. She said Zelena wanted to kill Dorothy to get the silver slippers and venture back to Storybrooke. Regina, Emma, Red and Snow leave to confront Zelena. When they arrive at Zelena’s residence, they see her trying to use the slippers to escape. Emma, Red, Regina and Snow stop her before she clicks her heels for the third time. Red asks about the fate of Dorothy. Zelena reveals that she put Dorothy in a sleeping curse. The only way to wake up from a sleeping curse is by true love’s kiss. The show’s creators, Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz, really need to come up with some new potions. It seems the sleeping curse is what they resort to when they want characters to confess their true love.
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In Oz, despite their efforts to get away from Zelena, the wicked witch corners them and tells Dorothy to give her the slippers. Zelena realizes Dorothy is not wearing them. Dorothy hid the slippers and if she doesn’t return them to Zelena, Dorothy will never get Toto back.
Zelena tries to make another deal — she will trade the slippers for her daughter. Regina convinces Zelena to give her the slippers without giving up her daughter so they can travel back to Oz. Regina gives the slippers to Red, who says there is only one person who really loved Dorothy, her Auntie Em, who died. I guess it is a good thing they’re in the Underworld, where everyone is dead.
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Back in the Underworld, Red, Regina, Emma and Snow go to the cemetery and they find Auntie Em’s gravestone. David, Killian and Henry show up to the cemetery and they’re freaking out because the telephone that allows someone to talk to people in Storybrooke is being torn down. Snow and David wanted to talk to their baby Neal. Emma tells her parents they need to use the slippers to save Dorothy, then use them again to go back to Storybrooke. But they’re forgetting one thing: Hades engraved Snow’s name on a stone, so she is unable to leave. Regina brings this up and David says he will go back to take care of their son.
Belle goes to Zelena for help to protect her unborn baby. Belle wants Zelena to talk to Hades and see if he can rip up the contract. At first Zelena doesn’t seem to have an idea of how to protect the baby, but then she suddenly comes up with an idea. Of course, the show cuts to another scene and the audience is left in the dark.
In Oz, Mulan, Red and Dorothy try to brew a potion to locate Toto. They need poppies, and Dorothy knows where they can find them. Red goes with Dorothy and they have a heart-to-heart along the way. Dorothy and Red find the poppy field, but they have to be careful because if they smell the flowers they will fall asleep. Zelena’s flying monkeys find them and are prepared to attack. Red comes up with the idea to turn into a wolf so they can outrun the mutated animals. They escape and go back to the campsite, where Mulan was waiting for them.
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Red, Regina, Emma and Snow go to the diner in Underbrooke to find out where Auntie Em is. They find out she owns another diner across the street, so the gang goes over there. They ask Auntie Em to blow into a bottle so they can use it to awaken Dorothy. Auntie Em agrees, but before she can give them her breath, she turns into a puddle of water. Hades reveals himself and says Zelena did not put him up to it. Now what are they going to do? There has to be someone out there that loves Dorothy. In the flashbacks, I noticed something between Dorothy and Red. If Red were to kiss Dorothy, I am positive she would wake up.
In Oz, Red tells Mulan that Dorothy is the thing she is missing in her life. Mulan encourages her to tell Dorothy how she feels. Red goes into Dorothy’s hut to confess her feelings and finds her bed empty. Of course the bed is empty! I would have been even more surprised if Dorothy was in her room.
In Underbrooke, Snow tells Red that maybe she can give Dorothy true love’s kiss. She has noticed Red’s behavior about Dorothy being under the sleeping curse. Red is not sure it will work because she doesn’t know if Dorothy feels the same way. In order for true love’s kiss to work, both parties involved need to have mutual feelings.
The gang goes to the cemetery to see Red and David off. David tells Snow that she will be the one going back to Storybrooke. It turns out that Killian and David scratched out Snow’s name and wrote David’s name on the headstone. Red clicks the heels three times and they’re off to save Dorothy. This is so touching.
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In Hades’ lair, Zelena shows up. She tells Hades she hasn’t given him a fair chance. Zelena wants to get closer to Hades — I think Zelena is playing him. It is probably one of those keep your friends close but your enemies closer situations. I truly believe there is some good in Zelena and that she will soon be joining the good side.
Red and Snow show up in Oz. Mulan found Dorothy and has been waiting for Red to arrive. Red goes up to the platform where Dorothy is lying and kisses her. Dorothy wakes up! Yay for true love!
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In the last scene of “Ruby Slippers,” Belle goes to Rumple’s shop in Underbrooke. She says she has found a way to halt the pregnancy and give Rumple enough time to tear up the contract with Hades — Zelena gave Belle a sleeping curse. Rumple tells Belle if she uses the curse, he won’t use the light magic of true love’s kiss to awaken her. Belle understands that and tells him to take her to her father and his love will cause her to wake up. Belle uses the curse and falls into a deep slumber.
Once Upon A Time has a lot of loose ends to tie up before the season finale in five weeks. Everyone has to make it out of the Underworld and that means ridding four stones of the names engraved on them — Killian, Emma, Regina and now David. Rumple has to find a way to save his unborn child and get Belle to her father to receive true love’s kiss. Also, Hades needs to be defeated. It might actually be sad to see Hades go because he is such an interesting villain. He is the most evil person to come on Once Upon A Time, but it is more important that heroes return to Storybrooke. I can’t begin to imagine what mayhem has ensued while they have been in the Underworld.
—Once Upon A Time airs every Sunday at 8 p.m. on ABC
Rating: 3/5
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